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Georgia tries to save its military bases

State officials want to be ready if the new round of closings moves ahead.

ATLANTA - Business and community leaders from across Georgia are meeting today in Albany to plot defensive strategies for fending off action by Washington to cut or close the state’s military installations.

While no new round of base closings has been announced, military leaders expect one in the next few years based on previous rounds that came about every four years. The last, in 2005, resulted in Georgia losing the Navy Supply Corps School in Athens, the Naval Air Station in Marietta and the Army’s Fort Gillem/Fort McPherson headquarters/supply complex in Atlanta.

Even more urgent than preparing for closure evaluations that haven’t been officially scheduled is bracing for defense-spending cuts of some magnitude that seem certain.

Congress created an automatic spending cut called sequestration in which 10 percent of future appropriations are withheld or sequestered over 10 years starting in December. Some in Congress are working on alternative cuts to domestic spending or closing tax loopholes to prevent sequestration, but the leaders of the Georgia Military Affairs Coordinating Committee aren’t waiting for the outcome.

“Just about everybody is going to be hit with something,” said the committee’s director, retired Army Maj. Gen. David Bockel. “They’ve got a very sharp knife if sequestration comes in.”

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta describes sequestration as a “goofy meat ax” that would put our troops at risk by not being adequately equipped. But Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, vows to prevent efforts to defuse the sequestration.

“My people — in the state of Nevada and I think the country — have had enough of whacking all the [domestic] programs. We’ve cut them to a bare bone, and defense is going to have to bear their share of the burden,” he said.

The Georgia community leaders will hear an update from aides to Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., and Gov. Nathan Deal, and they’ll share the results of their informal assessments of the strengths and weaknesses of local bases.

Bockel said the Georgia congressmen with bases in their districts are already committed to doing their part to soften the blow.